The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved Dominion Energy on designing, constructing and installing the 12MW Coastal Virginia offshore wind project, making it the only fully-permitted offshore wind project in the US.
The shore side infrastructure was being constructed in July, with Siemens Gamesa providing the wind turbines and Ørsted being the lead developer.
Dominion Energy stated that the offshore project will be ready in summer of 2020. Dominion issued its Facility Design Report (FDR) and Fabrication and Installation Report (FIR), which BOEM reviewed and responded to the two filings with a no objection determination, a significant milestone for the project.
Moreover, the infrastructure consists of two turbines of 12 megawatts, that they will be used to evaluate the site’s suitability for a far larger development.
Mark D. Mitchell, Dominion Energy’s vice president of generation construction stated
This is a significant milestone as we move forward on building the first-ever fully permitted offshore wind project in federal waters. This process will provide key learnings we can apply to our commercial-scale offshore wind project.
In addition, the FDR is about the design of all the parts of the project, while the FIR describes the fabrication and installation plans of the equipment.
In light of the approval, Thomas Brostrøm, CEO of Ørsted US Offshore Wind commented
The FDR/FIR no objection determination is the latest milestone in a list of firsts for the burgeoning offshore wind industry in the U.S. to come through the CVOW project.
